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Sunday, October 31, 2010

One of my favorite childhood rituals was poring over Jane Asher's Fancy Dress every Halloween (also published under the title Jane Asher's Costume Book). My mom made us numerous costumes from that book. I was a Christmas tree, a jellyfish, a horse & rider, a Christmas present, and more. I bought a used copy of the book last year, and now Zari likes looking through it. Besides the dragon costume, which is still her al-time favorite, she really loved the butterfly. So here's my rendition:

Butterfly costume, inspired by Jane Asher

The Jane Asher version had more appliques, but I stopped after the wings and torso. I made the costume out of fabrics I had sitting around the house. The body was made of cream stretch cotton twill. The wing appliques were two different iridescent polyesters, and the butterfly torso was faux persian lamb. I used a gold metallic thread for the appliques (satin stitch in the front, zig-zag stitch in the back to save time). The zipper was recycled from an old bag I took apart.

Dio's costume was much simpler. I used the rest of the faux persian lamb to make him a cloak.

It was the same design as Zari's Little Red Riding Hood cloak (see this tutorial) , but without lining or a hood. I edged the whole thing in shiny black fold-over-elastic. A Celtic pewter cloak clasp in my sewing box for the perfect finishing touch.